Telephone-dial protector



June 10, 1930. I. M. MARTIN TELEPHONE DIAL PROTECTOR Filed Aug. 24, 1928INVENTOR TYQ Q ATTORNEY Patented June 10, 1930 UITED STATES PATENT FFIQEIDA M. MARTIN, F HILLSIDE TOWNSHIP, UNION COUNTY, NEW JERSEYTELEPHONE-DIAL PROTECTOR Application filed August 24, 1928.

The telephone now being generally adopted by telephone companiesthroughout the United States being of the dial type operating onautomatic principles no longer afl'ords a subscriber of the system anyexcuse for claiming that the operator wrongfully charged for calls whichwere never made; hence, even long distance as well as European calls maybe charged to the subscriber of a dial telephone without redress.

It is important, as may be readily seen, that some protection beavailable to all subscribers of phones in the matter of insuringthem'against being charged for calls made by anyone but themselves or bytheir permission or consent; hence, an object of my invention is toprovide a simple and inexpensive means ofcomplete protection at alltimes to phone instruments in the absence of the subscriber thereof, tothe end that it cannot be operated to obtain outside calls, yet causingno interference with the receipt of incoming calls.

Inasmuch as there are rigid rules established by all telephone companiesstipulating that no attachment of any character shall be attached totheir instrument which is likely to interfere or damage the same, myinvention is so constructed as to preclude any possibility of affectingthe telephone in any way whatsoever and even in the event of forceableremoval no damage need occur to the instrument because of such removaleven if violence has been employed.

The marked difference between my invention of a telephone protector andother inventions having for their object the locking up of theinstrument either in part or wholly, is that in my invention less spaceis taken up than where the whole base is enclosed in a large box orcasing, the same being cumbersome to store away when not in use, Whereasmy one piece protector is compact, easily slipped into position andreadily disposed of in a drawer when removed from the inin said dial,leaving the whole dial exposed Serial No. 301,732.

to view, the temptation thereby offered to anyone wishing to use thetelephone, becomes as great as if no obstacle were present, hence aninvariable attempt will be made to lift out the rod by leverage on thedial resulting in breaking of same, whereas in my invention the dialbeing completely covered and securely fastened to the underside of thebase,

a glance would at once convince anyone of the futility of an attempt tosuccessfully remove this protector.

As will be readily seen an object of my invention is to positively limitthe number of outgoing calls to the one who has to pay the monthly billfor telephone service, keeping us out all others who have not beengranted the privilege to use the same, in this manner affording completesecurity to telephone subscribers against paying for calls never made bythemselves. '11) Another object of my invention is to provide a devicethat is quickly and easily applied to the automatic dial desk phonewhich will in no way injure, mar or interfere with the operation of saidphone and which can be instantly removed whenever necessary, withoutgiving the telephone company grounds for registering complaints.

Another advantage of my invention, arises in the fact that my device iscompact, light, small, strong and durable as well as inexpensive, whileit so nearly resembles the telephone instrument in finish that it is notnoticeable when attached and can be moved with the instrument to anyplace or position without taking up additional space, just as much so asif the device were not attached, and notwithstanding its attachment noincoming calls are lost or unannounced, making it possible for anyonepresent to receive no such messages.

While I have described in detail the construction of my invention andrefer to same by reference numerals to accompanying drawing of mydevice, it is understood that I do not confine or restrict myselfexclusively to the manner and shape of said device but reserve to myselfthe right to change or modify the construction, shape or material usedin said device in any manner or form as shall be within the scope of myinvention. The accompanying drawings illustrate the salient features ofmy invention.

Figure 1 is an end view of the device applied to a dial telephone.

telephone having a handle 6 and a dial 7, is

shown to have the device applied'thereto for the purpose of preventingunauthorized use of the telephone. The device comprises a sheet metalcasing 8 having a horizontal lip 9 to engage the base 10. of thetelephone. 'A top plate 10 covers the dial of the telephone and integraldown-turned flanges 12 prevent access from the sides to the dial. Topplate 10 is angularly bent upward at 18 and is provided with a pair offorks 1a and Y15 which embrace the handle portion of the telephone. Fork14 has pivoted thereto a bar 16, the latter being provided with anaperture at one end adapted to register with an aperture 17 in the fork15. 1

In Figure 5 is shown a blank of fairly heavy sheet metal from which thedevice may be formed.- The blank is bent along the dotted lines 18 and19 to form the horizontal lip 9 and the top plate 10. The blank is alsocut along the lines 20 to enable the flanges 12 to be bent along thelines 21. The inclined portion 18 and the fork .14: are properlypositioned by bending along the lines 22 and 23.

In application, the device is placed over the dial of an automatictelephone so that the flanges 12 embrace the sides of the dial 7 and thelip 9 engages the base of the telephone.

The forks 14 and 15 embrace the handle of the telephone and a lock 24securely holds the bar 16 to the fork 15 so that unauthorized use of thetelephone isprevented.

From the above description it will be seen that there has been provideda simple and effective device for preventing unauthorized use ofautomatic telephones, which device, at the same time, does not affectthe normal 0peration of the telephone mechanism.

Although the foregoing is descriptive of the preferred embodiment of theinvention,

it will be apparent that minor changes may on the telephone,down-extending flanges integral with the top plate and adapted toembrace the sides of the dial, and forks integral with the topplateadapted to embrace the handle portion of the telephone, said forks beingprovided with means to receive a lock to prevent removal of the device.

2. In combination with a dial telephone, a casing having a lip engagingthe base of the telephone and a top plate to cover the dial,down-extending flanges integral'with the top plate and embracing thesides of the dial, and means for locking the casing on the handle of thetelephone to prevent removal of the easing from the dial.

3. In combination with a dial telephone, a casing embracin the top andsides of the dial, a lip integral with the casing to engage the base ofthe telephone, and means for locking the casing on the handle of thetelephone to prevent unauthorized removal of the easing from the dial.

1. In combination with a dial telephone, a casing comprising a lipengaging the base of the telephone, a top plate positioned over the dialof the telephone, down-extending flanges integral with the top plate andems bracing the sides of the dial, a pair of forks integral with the topplate and embracing the handle of the telephone, and a bar pivoted toone of the forks, said bar having an aperture at one end adapted to.register with an aperture in the other-fork to receive a lock to preventunauthorized removal of the casing from the dial.

5. In combination with a dial telephone, a casing having a lip engagingthe base of the telephone and a top plate to cover the dial,down-extending flanges integral with the top plate and embracing thesides of the dial, and means for locking the casing on the telephone toprevent removal of the casingfrom the dial.

6. In combination with a dial telephone, a I casing embracing the topand sides of the dial, a lip integral with the casingto engage the baseof the telephone, and means for locking the casing on the telephone-toprevent gnaiuthoribzed removal of the casing from the This specificationsigned this 23rd day of August, 1928.

, IDA M. MARTIN.

be made in its construction, withoutthe eX- 1 ercise of invention orconflicting with the scope of the claims hereto appended.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device for preventing unauthorized use of a dial telephone,comprising a casing having a lip adapted to engage the base of thetelephone and a top plate to cover adial

